Name-dropping:
Qur’an (pronunciation: kuh-RAHN).
The holy book of Islam. Also spelled Koran. Islam (pronunciation: iss-LAHM).
Literally meaning “submission,” Islam is the religion.

Muslim (pronunciation: MOO-slim in the Arabic world; generally MUZZ-lim in English). Literally meaning “one who submits,” a Muslim is a person who embraces Islam.

Muhammad (pronunciation: muh-HAHM-mud) (570–632 HCE).
The founder of Islam, to whom the Qur’an was revealed.

When to Drop Your Knowledge:
They say never to discuss religion, sex, or politics at parties, but don’t let that stop you. Your knowledge of the Qur’an will allow you to talk with great authority on religion, sex, and politics all at once.

The Basics
When a young Meccan businessman named Muhammad first heard the voice in 610, it said, “Recite.” Like most people who hear nonhuman voices, Muhammad was reluctant to do as the voice said, possibly because it’s hard to introduce your fellow Meccans to a radically new monotheism by saying, “So, I’ve been hearing this voice.” But when Muhammad finally did begin to recite what God was telling him through the Angel Gabriel, people listened. Most believe that Muhammad himself was illiterate, but the revelations that came through him over the next 20 years were beautiful, intricately rhythmic Arabic. They advertised one God to a people that had always believed in many—a God of love and justice, whose name in Arabic is Allah. When these revelations were written down and gathered together, they came to be known as the Qur’an.

Unlike sacred texts from most religious traditions, the Qur’an is considered to be the actual, literal word of God. And it isn’t organized into a chronological narrative. Instead, the Qur’an is organized roughly according to the length of its chapters, called surahs—with the longest coming first and the shortest last. In total length, the Qur’an is about as long as the New Testament.

Because of its lack of traditional narrative structure, the Qur’an doesn’t make for the easiest reading in English. So, you’re well advised to just trust us when we say that the Qur’an, in Arabic, is ceaselessly beautiful. Its overarching message is the unity of God, known in Arabic as Tauhid. This one God will one day judge all people by their faith and their actions. Of course, the actions that you should take are covered in depth in the Qur’an–you shouldn’t eat pork; you shouldn’t charge interest on loans; you should treat people as you wish to be treated.

If this sounds remarkably Judeo-Christian–well, it is. And in the interest of bringing people together, we’re inventing a new term: Chrislamo-Judaic. The Qur’an retells many stories from Jewish and Christian mythology, featuring such famous biblical characters as Abraham, Isaac, Moses, and Jesus.

Pillar Fight!
The Qur’an highlights five pillars of Islam. You’re a Muslim if you commit to the first pillar; but if you do all five, you’re a really good Muslim.

1. Shahada. Belief in the unity of God and the Prophethood of Muhammad.

2. Salat. Although Muslims can and do pray whenever they want, there are five ritualized prayers each day: at dawn, midmorning, noon, midday, and sunset.

3. Ramadon. Those who are old enough and healthy enough fast during daylight hours during the month of Ramadon (because the Islamic calendar is lunar, Ramadon moves from season to season). Fasting means no food or liquid–and for smokers, no cigarettes.

4. Zakat. All Muslims are obligated to give a percentage of their income in aims to the poor.

5. Hajj. All Muslims who can afford the journey should make the pilgrimage to Mecca (in Saudi Arabia), the holiest city in Islam, at least once.

While the Qur’an is the supreme authority when it comes to Islamic law, the Hadiths are a collection of stories about and sayings by the prophet, collected by his companions. The Hadiths, some of which are considered unreliable by Muslims and secular historians alike, have become particularly important in places like Iran, where every facet of the law requires a religious justification.

Extra Credit: POLYGAMY
Polygamy was the norm in pre-Islamic Arabia, and Muhammad himself had some seven wives during his lifetime. (He married some of them to cement treaties between tribes.) But the Qur’an asserts that male Muslims can marry four wives at most (prophets, obviously, are an exception). In the Bible, a lot of famous individuals had more than one wife, too, including Jacob, who had two, and Solomon, who had seven hundred. Although wealthy men—particularly in Saudi Arabia—still sometimes practice polygamy, it’s become extremely rare.

Conversation Starters
◆ Can you be a Muslim and a Jew? Well, not so much now, but there was a time in which the identities were not mutually exclusive. That’s right; there were once Jews for Muhammad (although they didn’t hand out pamphlets on street corners). In the seventh century, some Jews embraced Muhammad’s status as a prophet without abandoning their own conception of Judaism. (Most of the major Jewish prophets, including Abraham and Moses, are prophets in Islam as well.)

◆ Jesus is a major prophet in Islam and is discussed periodically in the Qur’an (his Arabic name is Isa). But the Qur’anic Jesus was not crucified—God takes him up to heaven just before his crucifixion is to take place.

◆ Drinking alcohol, or ingesting any intoxicant, is forbidden by the Qur’an. (The same is true of Buddhism.) It’s hard to find booze in much of the Islamic world, and even when you can, you may wish you hadn’t. The Egyptians were among the first to brew beer, but their state-run brewery today reputedly produces the worst-quality brew on the planet.

◆ The Qur’an in its current form was not collected and authorized until nearly 20 years after Muhammad’s death in 632. Uthman, the third caliph of the Arab empire after Muhammad’s passing, brought scholars together to compare notes, and then decided on the exact language and organization of the document.